The Column Order of the Elephanta Temple, Antique Print, 1780

This is an original antique copper engraving from 1780, an elevation of a single column from the cave temple on Elephanta. The caption reads Zuilen orde in de Pagode op Elephanta. in Dutch and Ordre des Colonnes de la Pagode d'Elephanta. in French, both meaning "Order of the columns of the pagoda at Elephanta".

The column is drawn in strong light and shade from base to ceiling. A tall plain square base, shaded with horizontal lines, rises to a block lettered A and a band of small carved openings. Above it the shaft swells and is cut with deep vertical flutes, narrowing under a ring of beading. The capital is a broad, cushion shaped member, also fluted, set between plain blocks, and the whole carries a stepped bracket under the flat ceiling slab at the top. Down the right side runs a vertical measuring line with dotted leaders to each part of the column, and each section is given its height in figures and fractions, among them 40 1/2, 16 1/2, 33 and 20. The unit is lettered Duim. and Pouces. (inches) beside the figure for the base.

The plate is signed "T. K. f." below the lower left corner of the border, and lettered "Tab. IV." at the upper right.

The plate comes from the second volume of Carsten Niebuhr's Voyage en Arabie & en d'autres Pays circonvoisins, the French translation printed for S. J. Baalde at Amsterdam and Barthelemy Wild at Utrecht; the title page of the volume reads TOME SECOND and is dated MDCCLXXX. The account was first published in German at Copenhagen, and this is the French translation printed in Amsterdam and Utrecht. Carsten Niebuhr (1733 to 1815) was a German born surveyor in Danish service and the only member of the Danish expedition to Arabia (1761 to 1767), sent by King Frederick V of Denmark, to return alive.

Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Handling soiling along the left and top edges. A few small foxing spots in the margin. All four corners are present. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the bottom.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.